Folding iPhone with OLED screen revealed in official document

Apple is working on a foldable iPhone and it could be here soon

This could be the year of the foldable smartphone with both Samsung and LG rumoured to unleash their flexy phones towards the end of 2017. Now evidence has come to light that suggests Apple is working on its own foldable iPhone.

A patent has been revealed, filed by Apple, that describes a phone which can be folded using a fabric housing and flexible display. This sounds similar to what Samsung and LG are expected to unveil later this year.

The idea is to offer a smartphone that can also fold-out to function as a tablet. In the case of the rumoured LG and Samsung devices they’re expected to fold out into 7-inch tablets from a phone that can fit in a pocket.

The Apple patent describes the flexible screen as having light emitting diodes, which shows Apple is already focused on moving towards OLED in the future. While Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 7S or iPhone 8 with OLED display options, it isn’t expected to release a folding phone this year.

Perhaps Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone 8 will be more radical than expected and even come in a folding OLED version when it arrives in 2018.

One rumour has even suggested that Apple will offer a transparent display iPhone, ideal for augmented reality where the real world can have graphical information overlaid when the phone is held up to it. Read more on that below.